Flying under the radar has been the performances of the Zagame Autosport McLaren Artura GT4 shared by circuit racing newcomer Jason Yu and reigning TCR Australia Series winner Josh Buchan.
Buchan is vastly experienced in multiple motorsport disciplines and has so far been impressed by Monochrome GT4 Australia.
“The GT4 category is awesome,” Buchan summarised. “The cars are quite impressive and are very cool bits of machinery.”
“The category is well run by SRO Australia. It’s a globally-proven format so you can jump straight in and know what to expect.
“Everything from top to bottom, to this point, has been very welcomed.”
Yu and Buchan contest the Pro-Am category, with success coming at The Bend when a new livery was debuted on the McLaren.
Sitting second in the Pro-Am standings to reigning Monochrome GT4 Series winner Shane Smollen and Buchan’s former TCR rival Lachlan Mineeff is just reward to an impressive start to the season.
“The Bend was literally Jason’s second-ever car race and he is easily within the top eight or 10 drivers in terms of speed,” said Buchan.
“I said to him ‘you raced and passed Tony Quinn – he owns more race tracks that you have competed in!’
“It was a pretty remarkable result.”
Away from the track Buchan works in driver training and has been able to guide Yu every step of the way.
“What he is learning from are some of the simple things – warming tyres, start procedure – basic things like that that we take for granted, he is just figuring it out at an accelerated pace,” Buchan explained.
“It’ remarkable the way he is doing the job, it’s a credit to him and the Zagame team for pushing through.”
Buchan continues to be a frontrunner in TCR Australia this season lying second in the standings despite completing double duty in two very opposite racing models.
“One has the engine at the front and the wheels at the front do the work, which the McLaren GT4 is the complete opposite of that,” he revealed.
“At The Bend, it was a bit of a juggle, but I qualified on pole by a significant margin in the McLaren, so that probably means that something is working.
“More than anything, I’m honoured to be racing in one, let alone two cool categories.”